Double Overhead Bowl Matches Double Overhead Surf

August 04, 2003

Dinosaurs rule the earth in Huntington Beach! Dinosaurs are the Grandmasters of skating, the over 36 group. They seemed to be the crowd favorite in the Soul Bowl. This is the same bowl that was used in Hermosa Beach earlier this summer and various other contests throughout the past year. It’s a big capsule, bent in the middle with stadium style seating that gives it a gladiator style feel. There are four groups of skaters that competed in it this weekend. We will check out how all the groups did in the bowl and get back to that dinosaur thing later.

Surf, Chicks and Parties

The skate contest is part of a big weeklong beach festival in Huntington Beach. The festival is really centered on the biggest surf contest in the US, outside of Hawaii. All the top surfers fighting for the title of #1 surfer in the world were there. Guys like Andy Irons, Rob Machado and probably some guys from that stupid WB show as well. The waves happened to be big so that event was going off. Since sun was also shining 85,000 people packed the beach. You may not care about surfing but give me a break; I am trying to set the tone here. HB was full of energy and ready for the action that was rockin all weekend, in and out of the bowl.

So ladies, do not think I am sexist, there were tons of dudes there for the chicks to scope. With that uncomfortable political disclaimer out of the way…damn there were so many fine looking ladies there, of all ages. The place was packed, from your everyday hot girls to the oh-so elite Reef girls. Models were pushing product in booths, there were g-strings to be scoped, cute surfer girls to be swooped, even hot skater chicks from Oregon that could probably beat me up, man, the girls alone were reason to go.

The party scene seemed to be particularly active this year. Orange County has one of the craziest party scenes to begin with. On Saturday night there was a party to benefit Christian Hosoi. Let’s just say that party had $1 Pabst Blue Ribbon on draft and bunch of skaters, enough said. There was another party with Chris Gentry rapping and a bunch of people from the show Orange County. There was an art show, Don Bostick’s (from World Cup Skateboarding) birthday party, and who knows what else. I could go on about the parties, but you know what, you should have your own party, make your own stories.

Skateboarding

Masters (over 30) was the first final to go down on Saturday. The Masters group was relatively un-eventful. Tony Mag won the past three events and he won today. Not to say the Masters aren’t great to watch, they are. It is amazing to watch Tony do 540′s at over 40 years of age. There just weren’t any collisions or injuries, just good solid skating.

In past contests, Best Trick was absolutely chaotic. It used to be that any Joe Shmo could enter so people without hard tricks up their sleeve went for it. This year it was limited to skaters with legit tricks. Matt Dove won with a Switch Nosegrind to Lipslide, Revert, through the elbow, sick. Omar Hassan pulled a fancy Double Kickflip Frontside air through the elbow, spiffy. Jake Brown was trying Kickflip Boardslide’s and Tre flips, Jake came close, but not quite. Oh yeah, Tony Mag knocked himself out for several minutes right after best trick was over.

The final event for Saturday was the Grandmasters (Dinosaurs) division. These guys were the fan favorites and the old guys did not disappoint. Think about it, over 36 and still skating. Some of skatings greatest legends are in this group. We’re talking about the dudes that made up the tricks that form the basis of all modern maneuvers. These guys have true fire within them and this session was absolutely chaotic to watch. There were collisions, many un-planned doubles runs and sometimes five going at once. You see the Soul Bowls are all jam format, a group of skaters just skate and their overall performance is judged. There was no mercy, it was an absolute blast to watch. With multiple skaters in the bowl it seemed to be a challenge for the skaters to use the whole bowl. Even Duane Peters joked “Next time it should be death match, that’s what they wanna see. Eddie Elguerra skated so very well to take first place and Salba took second, that’s no surprise. Craig Johnson of Zorlac fame took 3rd. All of them are truly inspirational.

The women went early on Sunday and they went for it, charging the whole time. Cara Beth Burnside took it with her big airs, inverts and good use of the bowl. Lyn Z Adams Hawkins took a solid second, that girl will be on top of the pile soon. Holly Lyons worked all the angles to 3rd. Heidi Fitzgerald was looking strong and had a fan club of girls mooning everyone, killer. Nicole Zuck was skating well and looking good as a male fan in the crowd said “I would marry her. Mimi Knoop was doing nice Frontside Airs and a young girl from Brazil was ripping. All of the girls did very well and are great to watch.

By the time the Young Guns went, the temps were so hot in the bowl but that did not keep the skate action from being hot, too. The jam session quickly ended up being a hectic snake session. Third place went to Brazilian Bruno Passos. Bruno kind of showed Bob Burnquist the ropes of skateboarding, so you know that Bruno was ripping. Brian Patch was hitting all the lines with hella speed. Brian also hit a fakie to fakie five and a sick Ollie to Smith Grind across the extension and off the other side, 2nd place for Brian. Omar was his usual machine self and was still able to pull the win with his endless arsenal of tricks. Jake Brown was fun to watch as he pulled Double Flip Mute Grabs and tried some 7′s. You know, judging this would be tough, they all ripped.

If the Soul Bowl comes to your town check it out. I also highly recommend going to the US Open of Surfing next year. It is so fun that I spent all the money I’ll get for this article on Alcohol, Gas and parking. See Ya!